| Date | Saturday, 28 August 2004 |
|---|---|
| Competition | Scottish League Division 1 |
| Fixture/Score | Ross County 0:1 Partick Thistle |
| Venue | Victoria Park |
| Attendance | 2,781 |
| Referee | Ian Frickleton |
| Comments | Match Report Report from the Press & Journal. Ross County 0 Partick Thistle 1 Ross County manager Alex Smith feels he may need to strengthen his ailing side before the transfer window closes after watching his side crash to its third successive defeat. Former Don Leigh Hinds grabbed the winner nine minutes into the second half to keep Partick Thistle in touch with the Division One leaders. Smith said: "That's three defeats with the same pattern. We seem to have lost our form. "We are desperate to get Stuart Taylor in the team, hope-fully, to make a difference. There will have to be a few changes made and I may have to take someone in to strengthen the team. Some of the players have lost their confidence and we need to get that back." County opened brightly and Steve McGarry and Alex Burke both came close with shot from outside the area. Thistle's best chance in the first half fell to Hinds, who dispossessed Martin Canning only for Mark McCulloch to get back in time to rob him inside the six-yard box. The visitors brought on Willie Howie and Emmanuel Panther at the start of the second half and the changes brought their reward with Panther involved in the build-up to the goal. Willie Gibson collected his pass inside the box and his attempt at goal was deflected into the path of Hinds, who stroked the ball home from eight yards. Thistle started to dominate and Armand One forced two fine saves from Stewart Garden then Andy Dowie cracked one off the County crossbar. Partick co-manager Gerry Britton said: "We are delighted with the number of chances the guys created in the second half, although we are just a little disappointed we only had the one goal to show for it. "When you are sitting at 1-0 it's always tight, but I think over the piece we deserved our win." |
| Ross County | |
| Manager | Alexander (Alex) Smith |
| Starting 11 | 1: Stuart Garden, 2: James Lauchlan 1, 3: John Robertson 1, 4: Martin Canning, 5: Mark McCulloch, 6: Sean Kilgannon, 7: John Rankin, 8: Jamie McCunnie 1, 9: Sean Higgins, 10: Steven McGarry, 11: Alexander Burke |
| Bench | 0: John Mccaffrey, 0: Stuart Malcolm, 0: Steven MacKay, 0: Gary McSwegan, 0: David Winters |
| Partick Thistle | |
| Manager | Derek Whyte |
| Starting 11 | Kenny Arthur, Billy Gibson, Kenny Milne, Grant Murray, Andy Dowie, Steve Fulton, Jamie Mitchell, Derek Fleming, Leigh Hinds 1, Armand One, Jean-Yves Anis |
| Bench | Andy Ross, Steven Pinkowski, Andy Wilkinson, Manny Panther, Willie Howie |